Grandma Mary Duggar Didn't Approve Of Her Son's Choices, Says An Insider

Highlights

• Mrs. Duggar was a beloved Sunday school teacher who greatly impacted her students' lives.
• Grandma Mary disapproved of her son's lifestyle choices but continued to publicly support him.
• Some are suspicious of Mary Duggar's passing due to drowning at her home pool.

As famous as the Duggar family became after their reality TV run, fans felt like they got to know other family members, too. Amy Duggar King was a frequent favorite, until she quit Counting On over the family hid Josh's bad behavior (the Duggars did try to keep some tricky secrets). Viewers also got to see Jim Bob's mom, Mary Duggar, interact with her grandkids and seem to support the family.

Yet, according to a former student of Mrs. Duggar's, Grandma Mary did not approve of the family's lifestyle choices and wasn't thrilled when their family kept growing. Here's what an insider — and former student of Mrs. Duggar's — had to say about their experiences with Mrs. Duggar in their church, and what they think of her passing.

Mrs. Duggar Was Once A Sunday School Teacher

Mary Duggar taught Sunday school in Arkansas

In the 1990s, Mary Duggar was well-known in her small Arkansas community because she taught Sunday school at the First Baptist Church of Springdale. According to a Redditor who was a student of Mary Duggar's, their Sunday school days were wonderful because of Mrs. Duggar.

The self-described "bus kid," who said they were perceived as being lower-class than the local kids who attended the church, only had positive things to say about Mrs. Duggar.

"Mrs. Duggar was a wonderful woman who I greatly admired. She dressed beautifully, with high heels 👠 and her makeup and hair were always perfect. I didn't have any people in my home life that dressed so nicely so being exposed to her at a young age taught me that I wanted better for myself."

According to the insider, Mrs. Duggar always had time for her young charges and sometimes drove the children home as needed. Although they acknowledged that Mrs. Duggar likely taught hundreds of kids, the Redditor said that Mrs. Duggar was a kind woman and was dedicated to her job.

Another point in Mrs. Duggar's favor was that despite disagreeing with her son's choices, she continued to publicly support him.

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Mary Duggar was not thrilled about her son's large family

The Sunday school student of Mary Duggar's not only knew her during church hours, but was also introduced to the more famous Duggars sometime in the '90s. At that time, there were only a handful of Duggars, and they weren't nearly as famous (or infamous) as they are today (their tell-all book came out in 2008). So the churchgoing student was surprised when one day, Mrs. Duggar needed to make a stop before driving them home, and they met a whole row of Duggar kids.

The insider noted that they were "creeped out" by the way the kids lined up, because it reminded them of a time when they saw children disciplined in an identical line. However, they did not see anything untoward while they were in the Duggars' home for that brief time.

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Instead, the insider learned that Mary Duggar absolutely didn't support her son's lifestyle. She said as much when they were leaving, the Redditor explained, something along the lines of "I don't agree with what they believe."

But Mrs. Duggar never broached the subject again, nor did she clarify what she meant. That left the young student to wonder for years, until she learned about the Duggars later in life. Today, she doesn't have many positive feelings toward Mary's son, for one specific reason.

Some insider details didn't line up

Redditors were interested to hear about a firsthand Duggar experience, but they were also wary of incorrect details in the insider's post. For one thing, the anonymous Redditor wrote that the Duggars had 12 children at that point (with the caveat "If I remember correctly"). According to the Duggars' birthdays, there were only seven, and two were babies who likely weren't walking.

That meant the insider only could have met seven Duggars, and only five would have been able to physically line up. That said, there were no other 'suspicious' facts in the insider's post, so most commenters took it at face value.

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However, most were not thrilled by the fact that Mary seemed to be bothered by her son's beliefs; some suggested that Mary was the one who took Jim Bob to his first IBLP event and thus was responsible for him getting into that lifestyle.

Was Mary Duggar's Death Suspicious?

Mary Duggar passed away due to drowning in 2019

After sharing her positive experiences with Mary Duggar, the anonymous Redditor noted, at the bottom of her post, that she was suspicious of Mary's death. Mary Duggar passed away on June 9th, 2019, at her home in Springdale, Arkansas.

Mary was found by her daughter Deanna, but specific timelines don't seem to be available. What is known is that Mary lived not far from her son Jim Bob, and in a tribute, Jana Duggar wrote that she had gone to church with Grandma Mary — and apparently driven her home — the same day she passed away.

The Redditor didn't elaborate on why they thought Mary's passing was suspicious, as she seemed to have lived alone and was 78 when she died. However, other fans had their own suspicions, and even Daily Mail's recap of the Counting On funeral episode notes that Jim Bob recalled his mother "flatly." It's said that Jim Bob declined an autopsy for his mother, and she's thought to have suffered a stroke before falling into her pool.

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